Another Delhi run
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is going to New Delhi this weekend for the mandatory India visit. This is the fifth time he is going to Delhi in as many times as prime minister. Deuba and Narendra Modi are expected to revisit Nepal-India cooperation in connectivity, energy, power and health care.
20 years ago this week, Deuba had just returned from another one of this Delhi visit in 2002. The conflict was in full swing, Gyanendra was king and he would soon sack Deuba.
In that time, Nepal-India relations have been a roller coaster. The 2015 Blockade was the turning point. With the rise of China and India as major global players, Nepal’s strategic location between the giant neighbours has also given it greater geopolitical significance.
Excerpts from the editorial on Deuba’s Delhi visit 20 years ago this week on issue #87 29 March-4 April 2002:
As prime ministerial trips go, Sher Bahadur Deuba’s travel to New Delhi and Calcutta last week can be classed as a low-intensity visit. There was nothing he and his entourage did there that couldn’t have been accomplished in one of those quick-turnarounds European prime ministers regularly make to a neighbouring country for business lunches with their counterparts.
Deuba’s most important achievement was to get Indian federal and state officialdom to finally acknowledge that:
a) Nepal has a serious Maoist problem;
b) its leaders have safe haven in Indian territory;
c) the growth of a Maoist revolt in Nepal has crossborder implications for Indian states in an arc of instability from West Bengal to Andhra Pradesh.
Lest this sudden spurt of Indian interest in our own dirty little war raise eyebrows back home, Deuba told just about everyone that there was absolutely no need for the Indian Army to spring to our aid. However, he did accept an offer for unspecified hardware, training as well as an imminent visit by Indian Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani. And he tried to placate the Indians about the presence here of western counter-terrorism advisers, and the purchase of non-Indian military gear. With India now firmly in the US global war on terror saddle, this shouldn’t have been as sensitive as it would have even a year ago.
From archives material of Nepali Times of the past 20 years, site search: www.nepalitimes.com
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